Category: Blog

Braces have been around for many decades, but Invisalign braces have taken the technology to a new level. This revolutionary method enables a patient to have their teeth straightened with plastic trays that are not only smooth and clear, but also comfortable and almost invisible, hence the name. These trays are made uniquely for each patient, and sit over the teeth, gently moving your teeth to the place where your dentist knows is best.

One of the key benefits of Invisalign braces is that there is no mental or wires within their construction – all you have to do is pop a new set of Invisalign braces into your mouth every two weeks so that your teeth can be moved gradually. By using Invisalign braces, your daily life will hardly be altered at all, and many people will not even realise that you have them on.

Patients with crooked teeth or protruding teeth are often good matches for Invisalign braces, as are those with underbite or overbite. Other patients may have gaps in their teeth, or overcrowding which is too many teeth, and Invisalign braces can help them too, giving you that perfect smile.

The Benefits of Invisalign

Traditional metal braces were useful when they were first invented, but now Invisalign braces are here, they are many clear advantages to the new treatment.

For those patients were are working professionals, they know that wearing metal braces would greatly affect their confidence when they gave presentations or held meetings. Invisalign braces will not be noticed by any of their colleagues.

For those patients who are looking for love, Invisalign braces make it easy to avoid bringing up the subject until you are completely happy with that individual, making meeting new people much less stressful.

For patients who are in high school, you may have already turned down traditional metal braces when you were younger because they looked awful, but you now may want to have those perfect teeth. Invisalign braces can change your teeth and transform them without any unsightly metal.

If you are curious as to what Invisalign braces could offer you and your teeth, then you should get in touch with us for a completely free consultation.

Why Not Traditional Braces?

Invisalign braces are not the only option when it comes to straightening teeth, but no others can give the same levels of convenience, comfort, and real confident. It doesn’t matter how old you are: Invisalign braces will almost certainly be a much better way for us to treat your teeth without the rest of your life being affected.

Invisalign at Brighton Dental San Diego

Invisalign braces are a set of clear plastic trays that slot over your teeth and will gently and gradually over time move them to better positions in your mouth, without any metal and without any obvious sign of braces. Here in san Diego, we offer this treatment to our patients with the knowledge that over one million people have already tried it, and found it to be a complete success.

If you do not want anyone to know that you are wearing Invisalign braces, then they don’t have to. They blend in seamlessly with your teeth so that no one has any idea, and because they are easily removed, you can eat normally without worrying about food getting stuck in your braces!

The Benefits of Using Invisalign

#1: Easy to Use

Comfortable enough to wear all day, Invisalign braces can be worn without any discomfort and any disruption to your day.

#2: Simple to Clean

It can be difficult to keep your teeth clean if wearing traditional metal braces, but Invisalign braces are removable and so you can ensure that every single part of it is kept clean every day. You can also brush and floss your teeth completely normally, without worrying about getting in the way of the braces.

#3: Eat What You Like

So many people avoid traditional braces because they have to put restrictions on your diet when you have them – but Invisalign braces are removable, and so you can eat whatever you like. There is no stress or worry concerned, and all you have to do is ensure that your teeth and Invisalign braces are kept clean after the meal.

#4: Perfect for Contact Sports

People who love playing contact sports will love Invisalign braces, because they all you to wear them without having to think about wires breaking or metal pushing into your delicate gums or cheeks. You can even remove your Invisalign braces for the game and wear a normal gum shield, giving your teeth the ultimate protection.

Nothing really has to change either when it comes to going to bed. The only addition is that you will need to clean your trays, but as you were cleaning your teeth anyway that is not a massive change, and you do not have to struggle to clean in between metal wires and brackets as you would have to do with traditional metal braces. The Invisalign braces trays just pop out, and you clean them and pop them back in.

The Holistic / Biocompatible Perspective

By using Invisalign braces, you avoid introducing Bisphenol-A (or phthalate plasticisers) into your body, as the trays are made of medical grade polyurethane resins

If crowded teeth or gaped teeth are left untreated, it will be easy for gum disease to move in and cause health problems. Invisalign braces ensures that your teeth become properly aligned, and therefore easier for you to keep gum disease at bay

If teeth are out of alignment, over time this can make chewing difficult, and that means that you will not get all of the nutrients out of your food as you would want. A holistic viewpoint would say that Invisalign braces are a brilliant way to treat this problem

How Does Invisalign Work?

There are five key stages to receiving Invisalign braces treatment:

Initial Consultation
This consultation will ascertain whether you are a good candidate for Invisalign braces. It is very rare that a person is not, but we always want to offer the absolute best treatment options to our patients.

Create a 3D Image of Your Teeth
Through using photographs, impressions of your teeth, and x-rays, a 3D image of your teeth will be created for your dentist to map out a treatment plan, so you will be able to see exactly how your teeth will move for each set of Invisalign braces.This will help you to understand exactly how the Invisalign braces treatment will work, individually and customised for your exact teeth structure now.

Receive Your Custom Aligners Based On Your Personalized Treatment Plan
Now the individual Invisalign braces trays will be made based on the agreed treatment plan with your dentist. They will be smooth and comfortable, and all you will need to do is remove them when you eat and when you clean them. Each set will move your teeth gradually.

Change to a New Aligner Every Two Weeks
Although the exact dates may be different depending on the patient, around about every fortnight will you return to the dental practice for your new set of trays. Every six weeks or so, you will have a check up to make sure everything is going well.

Reveal Your New Smile
Every patient will have a different journey, but for most adults it will take a year for the Invisalign braces treatment to be completed.

In order to get the very best results, your Invisalign braces should be worn between twenty and twenty two hours a day, including when you sleep.

For many of our patients, we offer homeopathic remedies which are both safe and very effective, combining them with traditional treatments for your dental health issues. We work using the law of similars, just as health professionals have done since the 1800s in order to treat a variety of health issues.

Homeopathic Tablets

Many people believe that the use of homeopathic remedies goes a lot further back that the writings that we are aware of from the 1800s – perhaps even as far back as history itself. From our own experience, we know that when taken at the right time, these homeopathic remedies can make a real difference to the infection, swelling, bruising, pain, and other side effects when a patient receives an implant or root canal.

A Wide World Of Homeopathic Options

Our recommendation for root canals and dental implants are alpha lipoic, which is a very powerful antioxidant, and two other choices that are taken three times a day until they are not necessary any more. Arnica is also a great choice, because of its ability to lessen swelling and bruising, and reduce pain in the nerves. It is chosen by health professionals of all specialities for these reasons.

Some dentists also use the following remedies:

Hypericum: for nerve pain and used after surgery, as well as those who have dentures

MyristricaSebifera: when taken before surgery, can prevent nerve abscesses

Belladonna: used in situations of inflammation and throbbing

FerrumPhos: perfect for bleeding after surgery if gauze is not working

HeparSulphurisCalcareum: used for dental abscesses in their early stages, especially when there is pus or bleeding gums

Silicea: used in the drainage of pus

Myristica: commonly used for wisdom teeth, or any other swelling and numbness

Ledum: often chosen for dental injections to help with the trauma

Staphysagria: soft tissue and gum problems can be greatly helped with this

Apismemifica: burning pains and sudden swelling are the uses for this

As well as many others. Simplicity is key within our practice, and thanks to our years of experience with homeopathic remedies, we like to introduce them to our patients to help their healing process.

Prefer Modern Medicine?

There will be some patients, and you could be among them, that question us about whether homeopathic treatments actually work – and we welcome such questions. Using homeopathic remedies is not compulsory, and if you do not wish to use it, that is your choice. We choose to offer it because of the evidence of the last two hundred years from patients, dentists, and doctors, and so we believe that we would be failing in patient care if we did not offer it.

That does not mean that we seek to replace traditional treatments with homeopathic remedies; instead, we use them together. The latest procedures and most modern technology is used to make surgeries less painful and invasive, and by bringing homeopathy and Eastern medicine together with this modern understanding, this gives us the most choices when it comes to helping our patients get the healthy and happy teeth that they deserve. Every patient is different, and every patient will choose a different treatment path to help them get there.

To see how homeopathics can improve your dental experience, call (619) 359-6569 for a free consultation.

This was the very question that I asked myself as soon as I heard a colleague talking about how they had invested in a CompuDent and Single Tooth Anaesthesia System, also known by the much snappier title of a Dental Wand. It sounded like something out of a Disney movie, but I was intrigued. Why on earth would my colleague, who I know particularly for their skill with a needle and syringe, be needing something that sounded as basic as a Dental Wand to help them in their clinic?

It’s a simple fact of our profession that technology is often moving a lot quicker than we are. Medical technology is often accepted into areas such as hospitals far more quickly than they are to dental surgeries, and many dentists believe this is because patients do not like change – especially when it is a new (and therefore in their minds, untested) form of treatment. It is totally understandable why people get that much more anxious about having some new fangled and (in their minds) untried piece of technology in their mouths: beyond the fact that they cannot see what we are doing, it is very disconcerting to think that the part of our bodies that we use for feeding and communicating could be harmed!

That is why many different dentists are avoiding using a Dental Wand, a piece of technology that could be making a really positive difference to the way that they could give procedures and treatment to their patients. If you are a dentist and you have heard of the Dentist Wand and decided against it, or if you have never heard of it before, this is the perfect time to reassess and consider whether actually this could be the new piece of technology that you should introduce next to your dental repertoire.

Put simply, the Dental Wand enables you to carefully, slowly, and measurably inject something into your patient in a very slow and steady manner. One of the biggest problems when it comes to injecting patients is that the injection is not able to be controlled, leading to a stinging sensation for the patient, and a sudden influx of the particular chemical into their body. This can lead to a fight or flight response in the patient, extending swelling and leading to a much longer recovery time. The Dental Wand, on the other hand, is able to introduce the foreign element much more slowly, and at a steady stream that is simply not possible to do with a human hand.

One of the other incredible benefits of the Dental wand is the way that it is designed – not only to aid the dentist that is using it, but also to put all of their patients at ease. The Dental Wand tool has been designed to look and feel like a pen, allowing greater dexterity when it is used, and for a minimal amount of training needing to be given to the person who wishes to use it for their patients. This unassuming appearance is also perfect for patients who get very nervous when they visit the dentist, especially those who have a deep rooted fear of needles, syringes, and/or injections. For these patients the Dental Wand is invaluable, because it allows them to completely relax. In fact, in many cases those patients do not even realise that that particular tool is anything to do with needles whatsoever!

Many dentists will be able to care for their patients without a Dental Wand, it is true, and the creators of this tool would never want to state that it is impossible for anyone to practise their dental care without one. However, just because a tool is not completely essential does not mean that it cannot bring real and tangible benefits to those who trust it. It is impossible to give the high quality injections manually by hand that the Dental Wand is able to give, and it enables the dental practitioner to completely relax and focus on the rest of the dental procedure, without worrying too much of their time on the injection itself.

So why should you be using a Dental Wand? Perhaps you work specifically with patients who have a fear of the dentist, and you are looking for new ways to reassure them, and to put them at their ease when they come and visit you. Perhaps you regularly perform overly complex procedures for your patients, and you are looking for a new way to lessen the complexity and ensure that your mind and time is spent on other areas of the procedure. Or perhaps you are just fascinated with new technologies, and enjoy being at the cutting edge of dental technology. Whichever of these three reasons it is – or perhaps another one entirely – the Dental Wand can certainly make a difference to the way that your patients’ experience, which is why I always recommend it. To experience a painless dental wand treatment, call (619) 359-6569 to make an appointment with Dr. Woods.